


Louder Than Words

by adarkharmony



Category: LTW, Louder Than Words, adarkharmony
Genre: Adventure, Disability, Friendship, LGBTQ, Multi, Mute - Freeform, Mystery, Paranormal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2020-08-23 16:10:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20245636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adarkharmony/pseuds/adarkharmony
Summary: Jean is just like your average college student; struggling with loans, finding their way in the world, just generally figuring things out. Jean has a minor setback that most of their friends don't have though.Jean can't speak.Follow the story of best friends Jean, Nediva, Sol, and Darius, as they uncover the dark secrets of New Haven through a series of strange occurrences. Actions speak louder than words in this world.





	1. Dedication

This novel is dedicated to those who have a disability and those who have the privilege to know such lovely and strong people. It is dedicated to the media to show them how to properly handle these things. It is dedicated to my mother and the positive people in my life who encourage me to write about the problems I see in the world and try to make a change.


	2. Prologue

We all like to think that we are part of an advanced social society living in the 21st century, but let's look at how far we've actually come.

From the Dark Ages up until about the 11th century, there has been proof that those who had disabilities were either killed at birth or left in the wild to be killed. If they had been injured or had otherwise developed a disability later on in life, they would have to fend for themselves as the villages and towns they lived in shunned them to focus on those who could work and provide for the economy. All others were seen as burdens on society and a complete waste of resources. From the 11th century until around the 16th century, disability was seen as a punishment for their sins in that life or a previous one. They had very derogatory names given to them such as "leper", "blind", "dumb", "cripple", "lame", "natural fool", and "lunatic". Many were handed to the church where the monks and nuns took care of them. Around the 16th century, Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the churches, monasteries, and convents. This left those who were under their care fending for themselves out on the streets. People complained of "the miserable people lyeing in the streete, offending every clene person passing by the way." The King however did very little about it. The aristocracy eventually took it upon themselves to create buildings to house and care for the disabled, but this was more for public self image than for a wish to improve a disabled persons life. Within these buildings they received minimum care and were able to be branded, whipped, and abused without repercussion. Some were even taken into the royal court to perform as jesters. New theories came into play around the 18th century that those who had mental illness no longer had souls and should be shocked into sanity. Those with physical disabilities were looked down on and seen as those deserving of charity. For poor disabled people, life was harsh and brutal unless they could get assistance from the parish. They generally lived alone and supported themselves, usually in a community with other disabled people. In the mid 18th century there was a change in society that new specialist buildings dubbed "madhouses" were needed for those who were seen as "different". The 19th century saw the rise of asylums, where disabled people were put, and workhouses designed to separate the "shirkers" and "scroungers" from society. Both places had sparse conditions and had very harsh work regimens. This was done because the disabled were seen as "lazy" and deserved to earn their own money instead of being given it by charity. They were seen as incurable and most never left, or died during treatment. Towards the 1900s, special schools for those disabled and many charity organizations were developed. At the start of the 20th century, attitudes changed. The idea that disabled people were burdens on society changed as a huge influx of soldiers returned from war with severe disabilities. Society adapted, as did medicine, in order to treat and rehabilitate these people. There was a push for businesses to employ the disabled for the first time ever & they now had a right to education, where they were trained for low skilled work. Skip 50 years and we now have designated parking spots, tables, seats on buses, writing stations & hearing loops at checkouts, caretakers, settings on electronics, schools, the Invictus Games, and many more things to improve the life of the disabled.

In today's world, there is a lot that can be done to help people with disabilities and to treat conditions, but there's still a huge stigma around it. For example, in most media, characters with disabilities aren't depicted at all. When they are featured, it's hardly ever as a main character. They're usually seen as side characters who the main character interacts with to be seen as an "inclusive" or "kind" character. People will see this character treating their disabled friend nicely and think, "Oh, that's so nice. She/he is able to look past his/her disability," or "Wow, they are so tolerant and intelligent to know how to deal with them." This is, for obvious reasons, toxic. 

It depicts people who have disabilities as burdens on society and shows negative stereotypes associated with them. They're seen as subjects of pity. If they are the main character, they will be given a tragic backstory behind their disability and the media will focus on them "overcoming" their disability. It puts the focus on their disability instead of on them which, in turn, sacrifices their personality for the stereotypes of their conditions.

There are about 1 billion people in the world with disabilities and these are just the ones documented as such. A lot of people who have a disability don't qualify for disability benefits or assistance based on one simple fact. Disability is a spectrum, much like gender and much like color. Some people may have things seen as mild disabilities, some have things seen as crippling disabilities, and there's a lot in between. Let's, just for this example, look at sight. There's a huge gap between 20/20 vision and complete blindness. To be considered "legally blind", you either have 20/200 vision or worse in your best eye, or you have a visual field of no more than 20 degrees. You can still distinguish objects from one another, they're just not clear and you cannot see as far or everything someone else can. There's a huge spectrum just on the term "legally blind" itself. You can have different forms of disabilities and in the media it is all just seen as an obstruction to a goal or as another problem that needs a solution. Most of the people who have disabilities just want to live a normal life. They don't want to be superheroes or international super spies, they want to have something they can relate to. Having a disability isn't a bad thing. It is just part of life and we shouldn't focus so much on "fixing" these people to be "normal". For most, there isn't a way to fix it. Their lives are still valuable and they are still people.

Things they do shouldn't be viewed as them being "so strong" or "brave" to do things "despite their disability", that is just patronizing and it reinforces the stereotype that disabled people are usually unable to do things. They aren't defined by their disability. They are strong people based on their actions. They should be viewed as such.


	3. Chapter One- Our City

The warm and glowing rays of the afternoon sun beamed through the thin pane behind me, cascading across the slightly dusty keys of my laptop. Small smudges littered the glowing screen, and my eyes strained to read the typed characters through them. I adjusted my position carefully, trying to block some of the light without applying too much pressure to the glass my back was pressed against. It was always nice here, being so high up, but that didn't always make it a good day. Despite it being quiet and calm today, I still couldn't concentrate.

Honestly, it could have been all the hours I had already spent staring at Microsoft Word documents today, but I was tired. I closed the lid and turned again so my shoulder lightly touched the window instead of my back. It ached faintly and I could feel heat stinging a little at my skin, but it wasn't too bad. I gaze out from my seventh-floor apartment and down onto the bustling streets of the city.

There's a special kind of people in this city in the long summer months. The air is hot and sticky, and the world feels like one big swampy envelope. People flock here for the festivals and markets from all over. Humidity shares its rule over the outdoor market stands with an ever-shifting fusion of hundreds of experiences. Gleeful screams of children watching performers do tricks on the cobbled paths, polite and apologetic gibberish between people bumping into each other on the narrow walkways, insistent voices advertising trinkets and products to potential buyers, and of course the massive loud jumble of millions of conversations. There are many kinds of people here, each with a different story, each a side character in the greater story. There are stories of families, lovers, friends, and strangers. They all came here to continue their story. This is our city. This is our memories, our loves, our lives, our New Haven.

A quiet ping! drew my attention away from the commotion occurring below me. My phone was laying on top of a stack of books on the floor below the window ledge. Originally this ledge was installed for Orange, but she never used it and I decided to perch there for my afternoon working sessions. I hopped down and unlocked it, sliding my finger around the square of dots to form a pattern. The screen unlocked and I read the notification.

"Tap here to view today's reminders! You will be reminded again at 5:00."

I didn't necessarily WANT to do anything on this list, but that cute cartoon icon of a kitty said otherwise. How could I say no to that cute fluffy face!? Curse my love for cats...I tapped the message and it read the list aloud while I read it.

"Hello, welcome back to your daily activity reminder! According to your weekly input of tasks, today you must:

-Return your library books  
-Go grocery shopping (list here)  
-Visit the laundromat  
-Pick up Bernie from Darius

Is there anything else you'd like to add? Remember that tasks can be added at any time, and scheduled for one time, daily, weekly, or a custom set time use."

Oh, right. Wednesdays are my errand days.

I glanced at the clock on the top right corner of my phone screen. It was 4:30. Darius got home around 5:30, and he lived 15 minutes away. Now, math wasn't my subject, but I did know that since the library was only 10 minutes away, I could probably make it there in enough time.

I reached down and plucked the empty bag from beside the tan couch sat in the middle of the living room. The pins on it clinked and jingled and I took a moment on my way up to rub my sleeping cat's belly before straightening back up all the way. As I walked back, I heard her meowing loudly and whining at me. I rolled my eyes and smiled a bit, sliding the hard-covered volumes into the pouch. I pulled out my phone and tapped on the app in the centre of my home screen. It was yellow and blue, the colours I told Darius I thought represented hope.

Darius made this app for me so I could communicate with people who didn't know sign language. See, I'm mute. I ended up in an accident when I was a bit younger that had damaged the nerves in my throat and left me unable to speak. I can't make any noises, and when I try they just come out garbled. This includes sneezing, coughing, eating, and anything that has to do with the use of my throat. It's really painful, so I had to find another way to communicate. I only eat soft foods and try to avoid eating whenever possible. Rather than feel sorry for myself and lock myself away, I taught myself sign language. The only problem with that was that most people without hearing or speaking disorders didn't know it.

Able-bodied people usually don't worry about things like this because they don't think that they will need it. They figure that there will always be someone else around who can translate for them or that they will never need to communicate with someone who needs to use sign language. Either that or it's that most people just don't think about people around them who may have disabilities. I mean it seems weird to abled people to have an elevator for a building with only two floors, as they don't think about the issues stairs present for them. Fun fact, all those commercials you see on TV where they advertise some able-bodied person doing something wrong that seemed so easy, like not being able to lift a spoon without throwing it across the kitchen, they're meant for people with disabilities. Seeing someone in a wheelchair using a Snuggie automatically causes a person to think that they themselves don't really need one as they aren't in a wheelchair, so producers have to use non-disabled people to advertise their products and get the majority of consumers to buy it. It's a marketing ploy that sucks but works. Without a lot of people buying them, they wouldn't be able to continue selling them and those disabled people who need the products won't be able to get them. In theory, we shouldn't need to cover up the actual use for them in order to get the point across that anyone can use and benefit from a product; it should just be common sense, but I guess we still haven't gotten past the disability stigma in the world yet.

I tapped letters into the bar on the screen and hit the "Read" button when I was finished.

"Orange, I've gotta go out now. I've got to get some groceries and pick up Bernie," the voice in my phone projected at her. I swear her ears perked up when she heard about her furry frenemy. She loved Bernie, but he could be a bit rough sometimes. That's just dogs though.

I headed out of my room and locked the door behind me. I glanced at the elevator but quickly decided against actually using it. This place was usually busy around this time, and the less contact I had with people the better. It was just really hard to communicate, and texting on your phone seems kind of rude if someone asks you how your day was. So... stairs it was.

I turned the handle and pressed all my weight on the door, and it swung open with a loud clunk. Metal hit wall and shoes hit cement as I bound down the stairs, gripping the rail as I turned to gain speed. It was kind of fun, racing myself. I imagined being in one of those Nintendo Mario Kart games and racing the timed "ghost" run of your previous plays.

When I got to the bottom two or three steps I jumped down planning to fall onto the landing. Unfortunately, it seems like someone else had the idea of going onto the said landing at the same time as me. I saw a tan blur in front of me and felt a sharp pain behind my eyes similar to that of when you are about to sneeze, which had tightly shut upon impact. I felt my back hit the wall perpendicular to the door and it felt hard to breathe for a few moments. I felt ringing in my ears and momentarily felt freezing cold. My entire body hurt. I heard sirens and car alarms and the hissing of airbags and-

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Here, um, let me help," the woman said, rummaging through her purse frantically for a tissue. I let out a garbled noise, which hurt to do but had come out reflexively, and she looked a little taken aback.

"Great, here it comes, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid," I thought.

"What was that noise?" she asked. I sighed shakily and took out my phone after motioning for her to wait for a second, pinching my nose with the other hand. Halfway through my finicky typing, she handed me the tissue and I replaced my now bloody fingertips with it, shooting her a quick nod of gratitude before continuing to type.

"I'm mute, I can't speak, sorry. It's a long story. Don't worry about the run-in, it was an accident." The voice stated calmly. Must be nice to always be that calm, little robot.

"Oh, you're... I'm so sorry... Well, if you're alright... I won't hold you any longer," she said, embarrassed. I just nodded and waved, standing up and pressing to the wall so she could pass. I wish people didn't just pity me when they heard what happened. I don't want to be treated like I'm fragile; I'm still human.

She went quickly up the steps and I just pulled the door open and headed out. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. It could have been the embarrassment, but I had a feeling it had more to do with the sudden remembrance of my accident. Dropping by the empty front desk and swiping a few tissues, I made my way out to the resident parking area. Locating the sun-bleached yellow steel and dusty rubber wheels of my bicycle, I jogged over and took the lock off. I picked it up and set it on the pavement before tossing my leg over and steadying it. I just have to get my mind off of it and avoid going near the actual road.

I adjusted my backpack and tucked the unused tissues in, tossing the used ones into a trashcan right by the bike rack. I then took off to the library.

As stated earlier, today was a fairly hot day. Having to weave through the crowded streets and market squares made you feel almost claustrophobic. Don't get me wrong, I love this place. I just don't love the masses of people.

The wind flowing across my skin made me feel as if I were gliding through the air, and I smiled a little to myself as I glanced around for my mental landmarks. At the florist's shop, I had to turn left, then right at the church. I then had to go straight for a while, passing the always busy University Avenue before reaching the off-campus library by Nonna's Pizza.

I slid off the seat as I walked up to the bike stand. I re-chained her and bound up the concrete steps and through the towering wooden front doors. The loud creak echoed through the dimly lit building. The librarian looked up from behind her desk and smiled when she saw it was me.

Her hair was messy and shamelessly so. Her beautiful tightly coiled hair was glossy and dark. Her eyes shimmered in the afternoon light streaming through the stained glass like pools of water with no end in depth. Her skin was radiant and healthy, and the traditional African jewellery she wore complimented it as well. Her clothes were never without gorgeous and colourful African patterns, and her thick accent just made her that much more beautiful.

"Ah, Jean, welcome back. Here to return your books I assume?" She arched an eyebrow at me. I chuckled to myself and nodded as I headed over.

This is Nediva. She graduated from New Haven University last year, and I met her through the Power of a Pen program. She was from Kenya, and she moved here 6 years ago through an educational program. Her friendly nature and open attitude helped her make a lot of friends. She aspired to teach others about her heritage and culture and bring a better life to her community back home, and what better way to do that than becoming an author? Of course, until she made it big she still needed a day job. So here she was, working at the public library. She loved everything about books and literature, no matter what language it was in.

I slid my books out of my bag and onto the desk, absolutely beaming at her as she scanned them back in.

"You know," she said, "You really do come around here a lot. Have you figured out what you want to do yet? You're already in your second year and you keep shifting your major."

I hesitated for a moment and sheepishly smiled. She matched it sympathetically and sighed.

"Well... I suppose you still have time to decide all that. Hey, don't worry about it. I won't hold you much longer, I know you're a really busy person. It is better to be good at everything than to be perfect at one thing." Man, Nediva really was wise. I really missed having her in Philosophy with Professor Higgins to help me out. I hugged her goodbye and headed back outside, checking the time on my phone.

Shoot... I may have misjudged the amount of time it took to get here. Just maybe. And I JUST MAYBE had 5 fewer minutes than originally thought.

Whatever. It's the traffic's fault. Yeah, it's because of all the people. We'll go with that and not my horrible navigational and prediction skills.

I took the steps two at a time and hopped onto my bike, swiping the lock back into my pocket and speeding down the pavement to Darius' house. The grocery store was right by the apartment building, and Darius said Bernie was well trained enough that I didn't have to worry about leaving him alone for half an hour. It'll be fine... Right?


	4. Chapter Two- Family

"Wow, I really don't like grocery store music," I realized, cringing as a 4 year old song hummed just loud enough to be heard and to annoy the shoppers hearing it. The songs they choose to play never fit the mood and just leave you and anyone around to hear feeling awkward. I don't want to listen to One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" while thumbing through dates on assorted cheese trays, do you? Some early 2000's Justin Bieber when you're looking at frozen mixed vegetables? Deciding between chocolate or vanilla ice cream while Halsey sings about how much she loved her now ex-boyfriend? It's just unfitting.

Shopping for food was generally uneventful, as everyone is either too hungry or stressed about food prices and crying children to care about your appearance or stopping to converse, but every now and then something strange would happen.

For example, I sneezed when I was in the 24-hour grocery store near me at about midnight one night and someone, I swear he materialized behind me, said "Oh, one second," then proceeded to pluck out a nose hair to sneeze in return. I didn't know what to do, so I just stared, and he smiled and nodded and walked off. People have encountered this man several times before, and my friends lovingly call him Sneeze Man. Bless you, Sneeze Man, and I just have one question. Why???

Thankfully, this was one of those uneventful shopping trips. After strolling around the store for a little bit, I checked out and put my stuff into the reusable grocery bag and then walked over to the apartment building. I had locked up my bike over there so it would be easier on the way back. I brought the bag in with me and buzzed into the building.

"Name, please," a bored-sounding voice asked from the call box.

I glanced up at the security camera and pointed to my throat. It took her a second to respond, and I could tell it wasn't the usual guard on duty.

"Could you please hold up your ID if you can't speak?"

I nodded and smiled, taking the ID out and putting it close enough to read.

"Alright. It says you're on the visiting list. Come on in kiddo."

I stepped back and the latch clicked open. Adjusting my bag, I pulled the door open and stepped in.

Darius lived in a nice apartment building. The walls of the lobby were decorated in colourful paintings and it always smelled of those nice cinnamon candles that middle aged women somehow always had in their living rooms. The lights weren't too dim or too harsh, and it had a really nice and friendly vibe to it. The floor was wooden and had large rugs that were vacuumed and cleaned twice a day, and the wood was swept hourly. The furniture was made of brown coloured pleather, and the tables were sturdy and wooden. There was a coffee machine in the corner as well as a microwave and a community fridge. The staff of this building really cared about their residents. The guard on duty got to pick the music, and currently, it was Frank Sinatra. Not my top pick for an evening shift, but hey, at least it wasn't grocery store music. There were 2 sets of elevators and a set of stairs, but there was also a call button by both to call for assistance using them. Outside there was a ramp leading up to the door instead of stairs, which had a gripped mat on it to prevent sliding. Residents could just scan their key cards to get in, and guests had to be checked in at the front desk.

Darius had enough money to live in a house, but he said he preferred a smaller place to live because it just made things like cleaning easier for him. I have to say, I agree with him. It didn't mean that the living area was small though, it was more like a penthouse than it was an apartment.

I smiled and waved at the front desk attendant and walked up the stairs to his floor. Someone else may need the elevator, and as I've established before I'm not too fond of them. I knocked on his door and within seconds it was opening.

"Jean! It's great to see you dude, come on in!"

I grinned and came in, then leaned down to hug him.

"Are you hungry? I just got in but Sol made arroz con gandules and we were just about to eat. Oh, you have groceries? Here let me put those in the fridge so they don't get messed up. Your bike is locked up right?"

I nodded and handed him the bag, offering to wheel him back into the kitchen. He accepted and off we went.

The kitchen smelled absolutely wonderful. Sol is an amazing chef, and he loved to bring food to events and parties. He is the head chef and manager of his restaurant, which serves authentic Puerto Rican food that his family taught him to make. He loves what he does, and believes that the best way to teach someone your culture is through its food, and I can't say I disagree. Nothing brings people together quite like food can.

"Oh, Jean! It is so nice to see you! I see you have been doing well," Sol laughed and made his way over. He hugged me tightly and I returned the gesture before taking out my speaking device.

"Dinner smells wonderful Sol, thank you guys so much for having me."

He laughed again and nodded. "Of course! There is plenty of food for everyone. It is a rule of mine to never leave a friend hungry in my home. Now then," he turned back to the counter, picking up the big pot, "help me put everything on the table. I'll get Darius into the chair."

I picked up the smaller bowls, which had all sorts of vegetables in them. I went to pick up the larger bowl by the fridge, but Sol quickly intervened.

"Ah! Not yet! That's dessert, and I want it to be a surprise." He then placed it into the fridge. When we all sat down and began to eat, he looked to our faces to see our reactions.

He didn't get the restaurant for nothing, that's for sure. The food was amazing. Everything was cooked perfectly, nothing was raw or hard, it was all perfectly ripe as well. The beans weren't mushy and the rice wasn't soggy or hard. The corn was sweet. This is gonna sound funny but I really had no words for how good this was.

That didn't matter, Sol got the message. "I am so glad you like it! You look very funny when you are surprised, Jean. How about you, mi alma?"

Darius smiled bashfully at him. "I love it Sol, you're as good of a cook as you are a husband."

They've been married for about 3 years now and they had been dating for 5 or so before that. Gay marriage wasn't legalized when they first married, but they managed to form an exception. See, Sol is trans. When they got married, he hadn't gotten surgery or hormone treatment yet. By registering as a female, they were able to marry. He dressed as a man but New Haven law says you can't change your sex on your ID until you have surgery and hormone treatment. That was one of the first things that our newly elected City Council changed. And so, their certificate was reviewed and edited to list Sol's correct name and sex.

"So, the reason we needed you to petsit is that Sol has had a bit of a family emergency. There was a hurricane there recently and... Well," Darius sighed and glanced worriedly at his husband, gently taking his hand and squeezing it in a comforting fashion.

"My brother and my uncle went missing." Sol's expression hardened as he spoke. I could see the guilt in his face, and he squeezed Darius' hand tightly.

Sol's family wasn't very accepting of him, and he moved away as soon as he was able. He feels bad about the decision but writes to his family all the time, often calling and texting those who have cell phones as well. They love him but they don't love the true him. Most of them have accepted him as a man by now, and are doing their best to learn, but some are bent straight on their beliefs. He isn't upset at them for how they are, since he gets that it's another generation and a different way to grow up. He's just upset that they can't see past it and at least try to understand or tolerate it.

"My family has been looking for them but we have no clue where he could be. I feel like it's partially my fault, I mean, if I had just been there maybe I could have-"

"Sol you know there's nothing that you could have done," Darius interrupted him. "Life happens fast and sometimes we don't have a choice but to roll along with it. All we can do is try to get back on track once it slows."

I nodded in agreement and reached over to hold Sol's other hand, mimicking what Darius had done. He gave me a little smile, and I could tell he knew that his husband was right.

"What would I do without you guys," he laughed suddenly, with tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Darius laughed and hugged him, and I let go of his hand so he could hug him back. While they hugged I pulled out the device to speak.

"I would be happy to watch Bernie for as long as you need. Family comes first." Sol looked over at me and smiled again before waving me over to join the hug.

After we had all finished our food, I joined Sol in the kitchen and dried the plates as he washed them.

"Jean, can I tell you something?" he asked after a while, piercing the long silence. I nodded and set the towel down, watching inquisitively as he dried off his hands and leaned his back against the counter.

"Darius doesn't believe me but I've been noticing a lot of strange things recently. I think they're omens of a sort or something paranormal like that but I'm not sure. Every now and then I'll... Well I'll see something that isn't right. Like, for example, I thought Darius was calling for me from the bathroom a week or two ago but the thing is, he wasn't home. I went upstairs anyway and the door was shut so I opened it and went in and it slammed shut behind me, and in the mirror there was this, well this THING and it didn't look human alright? It told me that it was going to take my brother and my uncle." Sol stopped for a breath and stared at me, trying to read my reaction.

"Well? Do you believe me?"

I nodded.

Honestly, I did. I had seen some weird things recently but I had just been brushing them off.

"Could you draw what you saw for me and send it to me tonight?" I signed to him.

"Y-Yeah, I was hoping you could run it through that friend of yours. You know, the one who deals with this kind of..." Sol trailed off as Darius came in.

"All done?" He smiled at us and then glanced at the clock. "Oh geez, it's getting pretty late. Jean, I don't want you riding home at night, do you want Sol to drive you home?"

"Oh, no, I couldn't ask you to do that. I'll be alright." I signed, going over to hug him goodbye.

"We haven't even had dessert yet! Here," Sol exclaimed, scooping some of the contents of the bowl into a tupperware container and setting it into my grocery bag from the fridge, "take some with you. We leave tomorrow morning so it'll be no good when we get back. Message me later about how you liked it, alright?" I nodded and hugged him.

We said our goodbyes and I got Bernie's supplies into my backpack before heading home with him tucked safely into my basket.


	5. Chapter 3- Unseen Entities

Orange meowed loudly as a can of wet food opened with a crack. The contents of the can were plopped into her little metal bowl as she trotted over, following the scent of chicken and gravy. Stepping back a few feet to allow her to eat in peace, my gaze shifted to our new guest. I smiled a little and patted my thighs, and Bernie ran faster than his fluffy legs could keep up. His paws scraped the floor with a loud skittering noise as he got closer, and within seconds he had managed to collide with my knees and brought me down to the floor. I reached over and scratched behind his ears, only to get a face full of dog breath.

"Oh, Bernie, gross!" I quickly got back up and coughed, feeling a slight tug in my throat as I did so. Was I forgetting something? It felt like something was missing...

Brushing off the feeling, my focus shifted on getting out his food bowl and his kibble, then to pouring it while the pup hopped excitedly around my feet, yipping happily.

Clink clink clink!

THE LAUNDRY!!!

Fast-paced steps filled the short hall to my bedroom, stopping only momentarily as the mesh bag filled with all my clothes from the past week was grabbed. Okay, maybe it was two weeks. I've been busy okay? On the way out the door, I shot a look at Bernie and Orange, as if I was somehow telepathically able to tell them to behave. Halfway down the hall to the stairwell, the realization hit that Orange was, in fact, blind and therefore could not see me. Hoping she got the point anyway, I carried on.

Now that the lady from earlier was, hopefully, not down the stairs, I could jump down them freely. And jump freely I did. You don't have the full college experience until you've jumped down the dorm stairwell with a bag of clothes at midnight. It was like being Santa, except instead of presents there was just a bag of tea-stained shirts and smelly gym socks. Nah, who am I kidding, I don't go to the gym, it's just been a while since I've washed these bad boys.

I finally made it down to the campus laundromat and popped a dime into the box labelled "Engineering/Environmental Club 2012 Ultimate Detergent Dispenser", filling the reusable cups placed alongside it to the fill line. After turning on the machine and putting the cup back, I took a seat on the abstract looking wide and furry couch, which was lovingly dubbed The Bear Paw when it was made by the Interior Decorations Club of 2015 and took out my phone, checking my emails and texts for any new messages.

At New Haven University, all of the clubs will make something for the school. The art club will make a sculpture or mural, the engineering club will create a fountain or, in this case, the detergent dispenser, the environmental club will create something to reduce campus waste like an on-site pizza delivery service with the cooking club or the organic homemade detergent that now fills this dispenser, and the list goes on. This concept was started by the Coexistence club a few years back, and it isn't limited to just on-campus projects. Previous year clubs have put on shows for the community centre, added a swimming pool to the nursing home, and volunteered to plant and remodel the park after a hurricane. It gives them something to put on their résumé as volunteer work or an example of their work ethic, and it brings new ideas and help to the community.

"Jean, here is the drawing you asked for. I'm not an artist, I'm a chef, but I think you can get the idea."

I frowned as I opened the document Sol sent me.

"Sol, is this a joke?" I replied, "It's empty."

"What? Dude no way, I just spent like 30 mins drawing this :("

I tried redownloading the image a few times but it was no use, it was just a blank grey screen.

"Maybe try resending it?"

I waited a few minutes but there was no response. He had probably just gone to bed in hopes I would figure out how to download it anyway. The washing machine only had a few minutes left, so after transferring it to the dryer I laid down on the couch and read some articles on the Campus News site on my phone to wait.

Rain hammered the windows as the dryer finished roughly an hour later. The soft ending chime woke me up, I must have dozed off in the quiet. Had Sol responded yet?

A quick check on my phone sent me into a panic as I read that I had 7 missed calls and 19 unread messages from Sol. I quickly called him back, but it went straight to voicemail. I checked the texts to see what was going on and my heart sunk while I read the jumbled mess of random letters, no pattern or any reasoning to them. The last message hit hardest. It was a picture of Sol's shoes, having been tossed haphazardly right below the bedroom window. 

I HAVE to get over there. Now.

But I couldn't just leave my clothes...

I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could and threw the washing basket in what I hoped was the direction of the couch, for Orange's sake, grabbing my coat and flashlight and making a run back down for the parking lot. I didn't even acknowledge the people dodging me in the hallway. The horrifying possibilities of what could have happened to Sol or Darius or god forbid both ran through my head at a million miles per hour. Was this a warning? Did Sol send that?

My bike tires skidded across the pavement at record speeds.

If Sol sent that, what did it mean? He couldn't have possibly meant he was going to...

I almost flipped the bike into the street as I rounded the corner, causing a few cars to beep angrily. I didn't care, I hardly even heard them.

Was this because of the thing he saw? What if it hurt him?

I didn't have time to wait for the crossing signs to turn white anymore. If I was even a few seconds late Sol may not be there anymore. I had to look both ways and hope the cars didn't hit those white lines before I was off of them.

Please be okay please be okay please be okay!!! 

I finally got there and looked up, searching for their window. I located it quickly. It was wide open. I quickly checked the ground around me. Thankfully, it was empty. That at least confirms that my worst fear was wrong. I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived. I had to get up there and figure out what happened. I couldn't get back into the building through the front, though. The doors were locked and the guards don't let people in unless they are on a guest list, aside from EMS, police, or fire squad. Me, well, I was just a college student. They had changed shifts by now as well, so there's no way the new guard would recognize me. How was I gonna get in? There's no guarantee that Darius is up there or even safe if something else was in there, and I didn't want to bring attention to him just in case. That left texting him out of the question. The fire escape had cameras and sensors just in case people tried to break in, so I couldn't get in there either. I had one option. 

I'm gonna scale it.

I leaned my bike against the wall in the alley and just hoped that no one stole it. Zipping up my pockets so my phone didn't fall out, I looked for a way up. Some loose bricks, a flag or pole hanging within reach, something. I spotted a low window that if I jumped while on something, I could pull myself up onto the sill of. From there, I could... jump to the next one? It would have to work. It was my only option. There were no cameras pointed this way, so what's the worst that could happen?

Oh, I don't know, maybe that you could fall!?!

Valid. What else could I do though? There were no other options that wouldn't get me arrested. This... Well, it shouldn't as long as I didn't get caught.

I rolled someone's trashcan over and climbed on top. Standing up carefully, I steadied myself and lifted my hands. I was trembling. 

It's for Sol and Darius.

That's right. I had no other choice. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and prepared my muscles to jump.

"JEAN CASEY BARON, WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING!?!"

I was now on the concrete with the can teetering over me. A black boot crashed into the can and knocked it back into the alley. I flinched at the proximity and flattened onto the ground, looking up towards the owner of the boot only to find my close friend Nediva.

"You've got about 30 seconds to explain what you're doing here this late Jean." She looked mad. Nediva hardly ever got mad, so I had really messed up this time. I quickly took my phone out and scooted back up against the wall and typed out a quick explanation of the crazy day I've had. She looked confused at first, then concerned.

"So you tried to scale the building to get to him?"

I nodded.

"You do realize Darius used his voice as a setting on this app right?"

I nodded again and she stared blankly at me for a moment.

"Alright so why didn't you place a fake call with his voice to the front desk?"

...That was actually a really good idea.

"Here," she said, taking my phone and typing the message out on the correct setting. She had no caller ID and they didn't trace calls at the front desk anyway. Within seconds of ending the call, we were able to go up to the doors, past security, and inside the complex. From there I took the stairs while Nediva took the elevator. We got there at the same time, and I opened the door with the temporary activation key we- I mean "Darius"-requested.

The place was empty. I looked frantically through every room while on my way to the bedroom, but no one was there. The only sign that anyone had been living there were a few pots set in the sink to soak overnight. I choked up remembering the dinner that took place just a few hours ago. I took a breath and swung the bedroom door, and was met only with a cool breeze from the window. Nediva followed close behind me, flicking on light switches as we searched. This room was empty as well.

"What... how could no one be here? No one leaves this complex after 9 p.m, for security reasons... And there was no sign of anyone on the ground floor... Where could they have gone?" 

I set my hand on the sheets, perfectly made on the bed as if no one had laid down yet. They were smooth, not a wrinkle in sight. The pillows had no indents from sleeping heads, there wasn't even a missing slipper from the bedside.

"It's like they just vanished... Okay, Jean, I'm going to need to see your phone," Nediva stated and held her hand out, "I'm going to try to see that picture that wasn't loading. It's the only lead we have right now of what may have happened. I'm not saying they were kidnapped by some supernatural being but... Okay, maybe I am. Do you have any other suggestions?"

She must have seen the disbelief in my face because she took the phone without another word and plopped onto the end of the bed, tapping away. While she was busy with that, I walked around trying to search for answers. Did my best friends just disappear into thin air? What's going on?


	6. Chapter Four- Unveil

"Got it!" I almost hit my head on the counter when Nediva announced this. I was looking to retrace their steps starting with dinner, and so far I've only found that these two are extremely good at cleaning up after themselves. I headed back into the bedroom quickly and plopped down beside Nediva, ready to see the picture I had been trying to receive from Sol for hours.

"I kinda wish I hadn't gotten it now," she grimaced as she looked at the screen. The corners of my lips pulled down and my eyebrows tugged together. 

The creature on the screen looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. It had a vaguely humanoid facial structure but that was really it. The skin was scaly and grey, the eyes were clouded and white, and the mouth was completely bare. There were no lips, no cheeks, just... dozens upon dozens of teeth. From a side view, the creature's tongue jutted out from between the teeth, pure black, reminding me a little of a giraffe's tongue. It had no hair, just skin and white masses of flesh. Some of the skin seemed to be peeling, revealing the shiny white soft tissue underneath. In the full-body sketch, I could make out what was meant to be long hooked talons, four on each of the four upper appendages and three on the two lower ones. It was a bony form, and the skin on the face matched the rest of the body. The bone structure had an outward curved spine and a hard triangular covering on the back, protecting the soft tissue on the front. It resembled more of a bug than a person.

"I'm not surprised Sol couldn't sleep," I signed to Nediva, who sat for a moment looking concerned before nodding in agreement.

"Jean I think you should go home, it isn't safe here right now. We have no clue what this thing is capable of doing."

I knew she was right, but the thought of abandoning Sol and Darius this easily just made me angry. They wouldn't give up looking for me until I was found, so why would I give up on them?

"No." I signed. She stared at me again, not at all surprised, then nodded.

"Alright. Then let's at least take this somewhere safer. I have no idea what this creature is, it doesn't resemble any I have worked with before. I'm going to look around for anything that may have attracted it, in the meantime I need you to try and look for any signs that they are trying to communicate with us. Leave no stone unturned but please try to keep quiet... We can't raise suspicions."

And with that, we were off. I walked through every room, looking for even the smallest flutter of a curtain, or the tilt of a hanging light, or even the slight adjustment of some statue or painting. It wasn't for another fifteen minutes that I remembered what Sol had said about the mirrors. I took off for the bathroom and flicked the lights on, quietly closing the door behind me. The room felt colder than the rest. I turned on the hot water, mentally apologizing for running their bill up, and waited for the mirror to fog.

The lights flickered once or twice as the sound of running water filled the room, and I shivered. Not daring to take my eyes off of the glass, I waited until every square inch was coated in a layer of water droplets, and cautiously leaned over the countertop to get a closer look. There were fingerprints visible, so I tried to wipe them away, but they didn't move. I tried my fingers, then my sleeves, but deep down I knew they were not on my side. I was shaking now and pressed my index finger to match where the print was, and slowly wrote Sol's name on the glass. The light bulb got brighter and I could hear the buzzing through the wires. Slowly, letter by letter, the word "HELP" appeared in reverse on the glass. My heart stopped and the light bulb shattered, but the buzzing noise only grew louder. I fumbled for my phone, pinning my back to the wall behind me, desperately groping for the doorknob, and then I felt it.

A sharp tingle went down my left shin and I panicked. I screamed, involuntarily of course, as the pain from it nearly made me blackout by itself. I saw a flash of white in my peripherals and felt cold air surround me. Vibrations spread across my body, coming from my legs up towards my chest, but stopping there. They went back and forth a few times, but I had no context in terms of how many or how long between each directional shift. My up became my down and my whole sense of being was inverted. There were half muted noises surrounding me, along with the occasional scrape or bump. After a while like this, I didn't know if it was a long or short while, I felt two sturdy shoves. From here I didn't remember anything, and I can only assume I was unconscious. Every now and then I'd catch a sound, a fragment of a picture, a small painful sensation, and a flash of heat, but nothing helped me to understand or connect the in-between.

When I finally opened my eyes I was laying on a soft purple mattress, staring up at a brown and gold textile design spread across the ceiling. The ringing in my ears subsided quickly afterwards, interrupted by a shout.

"He is awake! Oh my- HE IS AWAKE!!!"

I heard a chorus of voices chatting quietly around me, suddenly stopping after the loud remark. Following the voices drowsily, my eyes met the bright and familiar brown eyes of my best friends. My head was pounding but my swimming vision steadied across a few seconds, the spots fading slowly. I was still extremely dizzy and nauseous, but it was a definite upgrade from before.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT, JEAN!" Darius shouted and hugged me, sobbing violently into my shoulder. I hugged him back, surprised. Sol stood behind him, looking afraid, with a concerned yet solemn Nediva at his side.

"Thank you for being an idiot, I mean," Darius said, calming down after a minute or so of clinging to me. He sniffled and wiped his eyes. "If you hadn't done that alone then Nediva and you both would have been pulled in."

"You shouldn't have tried to contact them first Jean. I told you to LOOK for signs of contact, not initiate some! You are so lucky that I came in when I did because you were halfway into that mirror and that beast had you by the legs!!!" She scolded me, but I could tell she wasn't mad. If anything, she was sort of thanking me but was worried about what may have happened had she not made it to me on time.

"She grabbed you by the hands and we were both trying to rip its claws off of you." Sol finally spoke.

I didn't have the energy yet to respond to them, but they didn't expect me to.

"We brought you back here and left that place almost immediately after we pulled you out. You all will be safe here, I don't have any mirrors in my house that aren't protected by at least three layers of spells, and I have burned enough herbs to make the firefighters question coming."

I heard a loud bang and animalistic wail from down the hall. They all went quiet.

"What was that?" I signed slowly, even though I didn't really want to know the answer.

"We... didn't just pull those two back..." Nediva whispered. I just stared blankly at them. Did we save someone else?

Darius must have noted my confusion because shortly after she said this, he clarified.

"Nediva is saying that we trapped one. There is nowhere for it to run as there are no mirrors in the closet and it doesn't seem to be able to open or get back through the door. We thought about calling someone but there isn't really anyone to call about this type of situation. The cops are going to shoot it, animal control doesn't have any policies for interdimensional beings yet, and there is no real way to call up and say 'Hello yes Mr Government we have some monster in this house and we don't know what to do!' I mean, unless you know of a number we could call, in that case, I'm all ears-"

His anxious rambling was cut short by Nediva.

"We are not calling anyone. We would be putting more at risk, we have no clue how to handle this, and we have no clue how many of them that there are. Right now you three need to focus on healing and resting up. I will keep watch over the closet."

I was in no place to argue, and the other two either agreed or didn't want to negotiate. We followed her directions, changing bandages and eating a little before falling asleep.


	7. Chapter 5- Dead Ends

"Oh come on, don't be such a baby, it'll hurt worse if I don't take it off!" Nediva exclaimed, her voice drifting alongside loud complaints and whines from Sol from the bathroom. She sounded like a mother berating her child, even though it was with someone she had only met hours ago. Like I said before, she is very outgoing.

Darius, Sol, and I had taken turns switching between researching on Nediva's laptop and keeping an eye on the closet since the three of us got up this morning. We let Nediva rest for a little while since she was up all night, but Sol had gotten a bit of an infection on a cut he got when they were abducted and had to wake her up to find out where her first aid supplies were kept. He didn't feel right snooping around her house, especially since they weren't previously acquainted. I mean, while I was unconscious they were talking a little and had introduced themselves, but they weren't exactly best friends. I'm sure Nediva saving them from the mirror dimension gave them a bond, like a firefighter saving a child, but they weren't close enough to feel comfortable with disregarding personal privacy yet. I'm pretty grateful he didn't care that much about Nediva and I practically breaking into and raiding his own home.

The creature in the closet seemed to have calmed down since last night and wasn't currently banging around or screeching. I had cracked the door open once or twice just to find it laying in a heap in the center of the floor. Once it heard the creak, however, it shot back up and lunged at me, at which point the door was promptly slammed shut. There was something about the way it moved that seemed different to before, it was less erratic and more... tired? I noticed it had shed two of its upper appendages, and the talons on said 'arms' weren't as sharp.

Darius leaned back and unlocked his chair. "I've got nothing. I've searched websites ranging from horror stories to crystal obsessed yoga moms and there's nothing on the internet about this thing." He pushed away from the table a little bit, giving himself room to stretch his back. I nodded, agreeing. I had come up with the same results when I was working as well; that is, none.

Nediva and Sol came back in at this time, one donning a pout and a new band-aid and the other a relieved expression. "I'm guessing no breakthroughs then," the author/librarian/apparent interdimensional magic expert said, not sounding very surprised. Sol gave Darius a peck on the lips before sitting in the chair beside him and taking over on the computer. After a few minutes of overly repetitive mouse clicks and rhythmic taps of hard soled shoes smacking wooden floor boards, the computer froze. Irritated, Sol resorted to just closing the program from the task manager entirely. He shut the computer with a huff and put his arm around his husband.

"It's no use. Darius and I leave in a few hours for Puerto Rico and we're left with more questions than we had before," Sol announced unenthusiastically. "Speaking of which, we should probably head back to our place and get ready to go. We weren't exactly expecting to be kidnapped by whatever demon bug lizard thing is currently in the closet, so we're running a little short of time on the schedule."

"While Jean and I were there, I did close your mirrors as we went through them, after I was told about the way those creatures showed up before. I suspected something like this," she said, motioning towards the closed door, "after Jean explained how Sol was acting yesterday. Even though I've never had any contact myself I have... heard stories of such happening. Not like this, no, they were mostly old wives tales from my village." She smiled fondly at the memory, before remembering the current situation. "Do you want me to take you back?"

The couple shook their heads, not as calmed by her nostalgic words as she seemed to be. "No, we can call a cab. It'd be best to not leave Jean here alone, even if the mirror thing seemed to calm down a little. We don't know exactly what it is capable of yet but we do know last time Jean tried to handle one alone, it didn't end too well." She nodded and laughed. "Alright then. Please, I would feel more comfortable in allowing you to leave if you took this." Nediva then stepped out of the living room for a moment before returning with two silk sachets.

"These are mixed herbs and plants that should work as a basic protection spell. Even if you don't believe in that stuff, at least it smells nice right?" She then handed them one each. Watching them tuck the sachets into their pockets, she then took out her phone and handed it to Sol. "Please keep in contact while you are away and don't be a stranger. If anything happens, anything at all, tell Jean or me." She allowed him to type their numbers in the contact field before continuing. "There isn't enough time for me to teach you how to properly bless and protect mirrors, so..." she trailed off, and Darius smiled. "Stay away from them. Got it." The three of them let out a relaxed chuckle.

That relief, however, was very short-lived, as the closet door flung open behind me with a loud, resounding scream.


End file.
